Chapter Thirty-Three

Elle

“I WAS WONDERING when you’d show up,” Larry grinned, shaking Penn’s hand as we popped from the crowd thanks to Stewie guiding us.

We’d traversed the ballroom to a quieter meeting room off to the side.

Here, men and women huddled in their array of silver splendor, their voices hushed in discussion, soft with business and not for other people’s ears.

“Fashionably late,” Penn smirked. “Isn’t that what you taught me?”

“Not to your own event.”

~Wait,~ his ~event?~

I frowned. I died with impatience to ask what the evening supported. Why Penn would be the figurehead for something that deserved such a turn-out. But Penn waved at Larry then to me.

“You remember Elle?”

“Of course, I do. I’m not blind, you idiot.” The name-calling carried heavy affection as Larry leaned forward to kiss me on the cheek. “Hello, Elle. You look ravishing.”

I accepted his greeting, doing my best not to blush. “Thank you. You look dashing yourself.” Just like Penn dressed in a silver tuxedo, Larry wore a darker version.

His salt and pepper hair matched the silver theme perfectly. Stewie was the only one to break the metallic code with his gray pinstripe.

Champagne was once again handed out. Penn plucked a glass, handing it to me with another raised eyebrow. I accepted it but didn’t take a sip—mainly in defiance.

Awkwardness fell.

I grasped for an appropriate subject. “So you said this was Penn’s event?” I glanced at the men. “I must admit he hasn’t given me any hints as to why I’m here or what the evening festivities are for.”

Larry shot Penn a disapproving glare. “He didn’t, did he?” He smiled. “Let me be the one to tell you then.”

“Larry,” Penn growled under his breath. “Remember our discussion.”

Larry waved him off, taking my elbow and escorting me toward the bar and away from Penn. “This is a charity function. Every year Penn hosts it. He has since we started working together.”

“Working together?”

Larry nodded as if it was perfect knowledge. “I’m a lawyer. My firm needed a helping hand, and Penn offered. He’s smart with a quick tongue.

“He traveled with me to many cases—even helped provide the legwork on research when I got sick. However, while I was in recovery, he turned his hand to the stock market.”

His eyes focused on a memory with pride. “He invested in a small penny stock. With his luck, it should’ve tanked. But it didn’t.

“For the first time, he was rewarded for his risk and the stock took off overnight.

“He used the profits to inject into this charity and to day trade the same companies we took to court on behalf of some of its victims.”

There were tangles and knots in his revelation that I couldn’t work out.

I needed a quiet room where I could write down what he’d revealed and mix them around on pieces of paper until I could rearrange them into a comprehensible order.

“And what is the charity for?”

Larry beamed like any happy parent. “Homeless children, of course.”

I slammed to a stop.

Homeless.

Nameless…

My strappy heels pinched my feet. “~What~ did you just say?”

Larry noticed my sudden pallor. His face fell. “He hasn’t told you yet. Has he?”

All I could manage was a shake of my head.

I felt sick.

I felt elated.

I felt ~terrified~.

His face softened, looking over my shoulder as the electrical presence of the man I’d forever associate with heartache appeared. He’d lied and twisted my mind. He’d hidden honesty and made me crazy.

He stopped me from learning anymore by interfering with our conversation.

Larry bent into me, murmuring, “I’ll tell you this, then the rest is up to him. ~He~ was homeless himself.

“It’s his way of giving back—to help other kids having a really hard time in life.” Patting my arm, he said louder as Penn sidled close, “I need a refill. Anyone else?”

“No.” Penn shook his head, wrapping his arm around my suddenly trembling body. “I think you’ve done more than enough.”

Larry merely shrugged, unapologetic.

I glanced up, taking in Penn’s profile. The way his jaw was sharp and strong and no longer covered in an unkempt beard.

The way his eyes lightened and darkened depending on his mood but remained the same hue as the man in Central Park. How he’d asked me if I trusted him.

How he had the same habit of jamming his hands into his pockets. How he’d kissed me with chocolate…

~Oh, my God.

It’s true.~

My knees wobbled as Penn muttered under his breath, “We’ll be right back.”

I gave a weak smile to Larry, falling into Penn’s fast stride as he guided me through the jostling ballroom.

I couldn’t tear my eyes off him. Forcing my brain to overlap his appearance with that of Nameless. I started seeing things that weren’t there. Or believing in things that had been there all along.

I couldn’t decide.

Without facts or declarations or any confirmation at all, I tripped into the teenage crush I’d never escaped from. I was stupid. I was hopeful. I was blind.

A woman placed herself in our path, smiling coyly at Penn while ignoring me entirely. “Oh, Penn. Fancy seeing you here,” she simpered. “Do you mind if I borrow you for a moment?”

“I have a question about the Triple Segment Securities you recommended last week.” She flicked her dark brown hair. “I want your ~expert~ opinion.”

Rage and jealousy clawed at me.

If Penn was Nameless, he was mine.

He’d been mine for three years.

I’d only just found him and now she wanted to take him away?

~No.

She can’t.~

Disappointment and confusion followed as Penn sighed heavily and let me go.

Whispering in my ear, he commanded, “Leave the ballroom. Head to the first-floor restaurant. You’ll see a family bathroom. Meet me there in five minutes.

“What I need to tell you should be done in private.”

“But I’m not tipsy.”

His gaze hardened then saddened. “It’s too late. You need to know. I can’t fucking lie anymore.”

I shivered as he let me go.

He gave me one last eternally long stare then walked away with the woman, leaving me with fantasies and fears and a joy I never dared believe in.